20 Year Old E39, How Bad Is This Idea?

Matt82

Matt82

Matt82

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13 Mar 2004
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I have a change of job coming up and the acquisition of two dogs in the last year has lead to a change in the line up of our current cars.

I think an estate is the answer to the question, two dogs really dont go well in the back of a TT and I doubt a hatchback or saloon would be much use either.

The new job will involve a 6o mile a day commute, add additional miles, lets round it up to 20k per year.

There is the option of petrol and diesel, petrol is preferred, but based on current average fuel prices it would cost £2.5k for 40mpg in a diesel or £3.5k for 30mpg in a petrol.

I keep defaulting to a BMW diesel estate, my thinking so far has got me focused on an E39 525d touring. The budget does extend further but Im not really a fan of the E9* cars (plus dont fancy contending with DPF and N57 issues) and im not a fan of the E6* cars at all.

I really have a soft spot for the E39s, always have, they seem like the last "proper" BMWs and Im not keen on spending a lot of money on a car to stick tons of miles on and fill with dogs.

Im not afraid to spanner on my own cars and Ive found a two owner car that doesnt appear to have been messed with at all.

Part of me is worried this is a daft idea and to just get something sensible, what do you think?
 
Total waste of time. Most of them are sheds now and you'll consume in repairs and hassle way more than you'll ever save in fuel. Not that the 525d is particularly fuel efficient anyway.
 
I accept there will be a cost, regardless, its just a simple fact of driving, but Im searching for different ideas and not coming across anything I actually want (within a reasonable cost).

What happened with your old 530 in the end? Last time I remember you posting about it was when youd been to look at or test drive an F10.

The bangernomics candidate Ive found is the link below. Two owners, being sold by the garage that maintained it for the last decade or more, the previous owner died his wife sold it to them

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...rchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&modal=photos
 
It's hard to see how it ends in anything other than you throwing £1500 down the drain tbh.

That said, if you're prepared for that to happen, have access to other transport whenever needed and can draw a clear line at anything above basic maintenance then you don't really have THAT much to lose.

If it runs for a good while and doesn't break then it'll probably be an enjoyable experience, if it needs work doing every month for the next year....well, less enjoyable
 
I think a lot of it depends on if you have access to another car or another means of getting to work. As you say you can do all the work yourself, it's unlikely to bankrupt you in repairs, but you'd have to be ready for the possibility of it breaking and having to wait several days for parts, or it not starting in the morning, etc.
I do about 50-80 miles per day in a considerably older vehicle, but I know that if it doesn't start one morning I can borrow a family member's car, so it's not the end of the world. If it was my only way of getting to work, I'd never have bought it in the first place.
 
Its a pocket money car, if it dies it dies, itll be annoying but I have alternatives anyway, but Ive also got this optimistic, slightly romantic idea that this antique BMW is going to be awesome, rarely blow up, isnt going to totally do my head in due to 20 year old problems.

In all seriousness, Im all ears to other suggestions
 
If you’ve got £1500 that you don’t mind losing it in a cloud of oil smoke then go for it! It looks like an awful lot of car for the cash. Don’t expect it to be exciting to drive, or reliable though!
 
Im not worried about excitement, but some reliability would be nice, not dissolving in a puddle of rust around me would be even better

What other suggestions are there out there?
 
Knew that was coming.. I know nothing about them and do nothing for me at all. Ill have a skim through ebay and see whats out there
 
Cheap dog carriers that are even remotely interesting - I guess V70 T5, Legacy spec B, maybe Forester, could be worth looking at.

Nothing really comes without the same really quite high probability of just chucking it sometime soon though when you're down at the cheap end.
 
But a T5 or Spec B will be pretty brutal on fuel costs.

Alfa 159 estates are easy on the eye but again I have no knowledge of those things and the only interesting engine the range appears to have in a 3.2, which again wouldnt be fun to commute 60 miles a day in
 
Forgot about fuel, the D5 has always been relatively characterful for a diesel too. Not honestly sure how much worse a biggish petrol engine will be compared to a 525d either, aren't we only talking high 20's mpg Vs mid 30?

Not only will a 159 bring the same threat of breaking as the others but French/Italian cars are also a real pain in the arse to work on which would make me avoid
 
Its a dog carrying commuting tool, why do you need something that does it for you? Mk4 mondeo with 2.0 tdci is perfect for your needs, i got one 4 years ago for being the load lugger that I don't have to worry where I park it or what goes in it.

Fuel econ is OK at 40ish mpg for the auto box and it's comfy enough and quiet enough to get out the end of a 6 hour drive without limping so a 60 mile commute will be fine. Yeah it's not glamourous but it's also not catastrophically failed on me in this time despite being on 165k when I got it.
 
I needed a dog carrying estate to replace my focus, and knowing what money pits old BMW’s can be (owned 2 e39’s, 2 e38’s, 2 e46’s and 2 e36’s) I opted for the sane option - I bought a V70 D5 Volvo,I’m very happy with it, due to its age (2005) it’s got no EGR or DPF to worry about, it’s returning a consistent 48mpg and I love the character of the 5 pot D5 engine.

As I say, I love older BMW’s the e xx generation especially but unfortunately they simply don’t age well, unlike something like a “proper” old Volvo....

Couldn’t be happier with it nor recommend one highly enough.
 
Having had a few BMWs of this era, quite a long time ago, when they were considerably younger than they are now, i would absolutely not bother with one now. These are very old cars which were not massively reliable even at 10 years old, let alone 20.

If you want a cheap BMW Touring then get something newer, IMHO. The early F11 models are very cheap now, especially if you go off piste with spec (as you will be doing with the E39 anyway, 525d was never a favoured model). While these will also likely not be 100% reliable, you will at least have 10 years in your favour, and the car wont feel like an ancient shed either.
 
Cars of that sort of age can be great fun, i've done it myself, bought a 17 year old ST220 as it's fun to drive & I always wanted one. Wouldn't use it as a daily driver though, in fact it's currently SORN until March.

I can't imagine putting 20k miles a year on something of that age being anything other than a pain in the ass, and an expensive pain in the ass unless you do all the repair work yourself.
 
My 26 year old £1500 estate has cost £82pm in maintenance (including purchase) since I bought it two months shy of three years ago. I do all the work myself, which has helped keep costs down. I average 14k miles pa. My argument would be that if you are capable of doing some basic DIY, and the car appears to be in reasonable condition and previously well maintained then it might be worth a punt. Mine was not well maintained in the 3 years before I bought it, so I needed to invest more in it maintenance wise than I perhaps would have with a different example.

Alternatively, if you don't care about the £1500 capital, then buy the car you want and just run it straight into the ground.
 
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